Anar Azimov

The film began with a simple but persistent fascination: auditions. Over the years, I watched dozens of casting videos and realized they possess a rare artistic intensity. In an audition, an actor transforms into a character before your eyes — without sets, costumes, or cinematic illusion. It is pure creation in real time.

It was particularly enchanting to watch how different actors interpret the same parts, while the same lines sounded so different.

Here is how the idea formed: a documentary depicting a series of auditions: the same role, the same lines acted by various personalities in various interpretations.

From the outset, I knew the project should be anchored in Shakespeare, whose characters are archetypal and universally recognizable. Eventually, Romeo and Juliet emerged as inevitable. The tragedy’s abrupt ending always leaves an unsettling question: what if they had survived? Would love endure beyond the intensity of youth and crisis?

The concept required the film to be focused on one character. Of course, I chose Juliet – IMHO the driving force and, probably, the most intelligent character in the play. 

So, “Romeo and Juliet” became “…and Juliet”.

“What if Romeo and Juliet had survived?” became the question to answer with lines I wrote for one of the actresses: a hypothetical letter sent by Juliet to her late brother years after she escaped with Romeo to live in exile.

This is how documentary becomes docufiction.

Thus, here was the format: four actresses coming for (as they had been told to make their acting genuine and matching the documentary framework)  audition in “a feature film” based on Romeo and Juliet.  A filmmaker (myself presented as the voice behind the camera talking to actresses coming to try for «Juliet») is going to  make a film based on Shakespeare’s play.

Usually, there are much more candidates coming for a role, but the format demanded more time to be focused on fewer actresses presenting different versions of Juliet.

So, I invited four talented actresses: visually different, of different ages and charismas.

Three of them were given the same lines from the play.

The «letter” I had written was for the epilogue to be acted by Katya Molchanova, the most experienced, awarded and internationally recognised performer. 

Here is where real life contributed drastically. It was spring 2020, COVID pandemic.

We were located in Kiev, Ukraine, and I didn’t know at the start that Katya Molchanova would have to stay under lockdown in another Ukrainian city, Odessa. So, she sent me her self-recorded video being sure it’s for the audition, not for the film.

It provided an unexpected and deepening consequence for the film:  her “Juliet who survived” feels as though she is already in exile, living the alternate future of the play.

The audition format dictated the vision. Static camera, long takes, rough sound, no music, minimum post-production . Everything focused on ACTING by four women becoming a character  – the character – real-time.

At the same time, the project is not purely observational; I appear as a filmmaker planning a fictional production, creating a subtle narrative frame.

Filmmakers in Kiev usually rent few hours at a photo studio for audition. So, I chose one with background stylistically more or less matching the story and emotionally preparing the actresses for the part. Lights were also important.

Of course, the fourth part (Juliet in exile) was totally different – Katya shot it at home, with no special lights or sound – but…it worked I think! 

Cutting is very moderate: besides the fourth audition, the film is divided into few scenes from the play acted by the three actresses in a sequence. I also ask them some questions, especially, to set the ground for it, closer to when the fourth actress – Katya Molchanova – starts the epilogue.

The result is a hybrid form — documentary in material, fictional in premise, performative in execution.

Because the concept depended on authenticity, the team had to adopt a restrained approach.

The cinematography focused on clarity and intimacy rather than stylization. We discussed how to maintain a neutral visual language and record sound on-set not to impose interpretation but allow each performance to unfold naturally.

This project required trust — not only between filmmaker and actors, but within the team, since the film’s success depended on preserving the delicate conditions under which genuine performance emerges.

The central challenge was ethical as well as artistic: creating authentic auditions while planning to use them in a film. We addressed this by fully informing the actresses afterward and obtaining their permission before proceeding. They felt both interested in the concept and disappointed there would be no feature “Romeo and Juliet”, that it was “only a documentary”, and their naturally spontaneous audition acting would be on screen with no chance to polish it later. However, no one refused. I’m proud and thankful to Sofia Stelmakh, Victoria Lugovtsova, Tata Taranyuk and Katya Molchanova for their trust and permission.

As I have already said, COVID-19 restrictions posed the other major obstacle. Rather than treating this as a limitation, I embraced it conceptually.

I am especially proud of the moments when the boundary between the performers and the character dissolves — when a performer magically performed the aura of the different epoch and country around herself as if she were travelling by a time machine. 

If anything, I might have documented the process surrounding the auditions more extensively — the preparation, hesitation, and aftermath. Those layers could form another film entirely.

The experience reinforced a key lesson: constraints often generate the most meaningful artistic solutions. What initially appears as a problem may become the defining element of the work.

This project stands out because it captures something rarely preserved in cinema: the raw moment of artistic creation before it is shaped into a finished product. Auditions are usually private and ephemeral, yet they contain extraordinary emotional truth.

By transforming casting into the film itself, the project redefines what performance means and where a story can begin. As per other projects I wrote and directed, each of them is like a child, and you can never say which one is your most beloved. Probably, CU:FAREWELL stands out for me as a mid-length no-dialogue thriller/drama almost entirely consisting of static close-ups.

Before making a film, play it in your head. Your job as the director is to tell the story. You need to answer the question HOW. Angles, shots, camera movements, colours, the sound concept – all of it determines the narration. Even if you modify it on later stages, it’s going to be the necessary ground zero.  

Respect opinions by the crew, listen to their advice, but never give up your vision.  The more detailed your vision is, the more opportunities they will have to demonstrate their capacity. Sometimes, the best advice comes from someone the least expected to give it.  However, don’t let initially attractive advice compromise  your creative goals.

Remember – it’s not your right as the author; it’s in your job description as a director. Truly professional and creative cinematographers and sound engineers  such as, respectively, Oleksandr Nykonovych and Vlad Donchenko, both of whom worked with me on quite a few films including “…and Juliet”, will only support your vision and do their best to bring it into life.

At the same time, treat actors as collaborators, not instruments. The most compelling performances arise from trust.

I aimed to create a space where actors could explore rather than perform “correctly.” Instead of giving rigid direction, I encouraged interpretation and emotional risk.

Because the auditions were genuine, the actors approached them with professional seriousness. My role was to observe, occasionally guide, but mostly to allow each “Juliet” to emerge in her own way.

As I said, sound was treated with the same restraint as the image. Natural acoustics and the human voice take precedence. It was recorded on-set. There was no music at all for the reason I explained above.

Feedback was invaluable, particularly regarding clarity of concept. Because the film operates in a hybrid form, some viewers initially expect a traditional narrative.